A Hiccup in a Family Matter
by VentusWind78
Summary: RttE,S6,E9 AU. Hiccup relented when Astrid begged him to let them bring Garff to the Edge, but he was adamant about the young dragon staying put during the mission. However, Astrid throws a low blow, causing Hiccup to snap and both of them to reflect on their feelings, past and present. Oneshot.


It always bothered me that Hiccup would stand up to just about anyone, but he'd let Astrid walk all over him. So, as I was rewatching Race to the Edge, this idea popped into my head and I got a bit excited about it. I needed a break from Rivalry anyway, but I didn't expect that A. I'd enjoy writing this so much, B. I'd be this happy with the result, C. that I'd get it done so quickly, or D. that it'd be this long, but here we are. I also felt like I was able to stick much closer to the canon characters than I have in Rivalry.

Bonus points to anyone that can find all the references. ;)

* * *

"Astrid, I'm serious this time, Garff needs to stay here." Hiccup sighed.

Astrid was giving him "The Look," which basically meant he had to do whatever she asked or she'd use her axe on him.

"For the love of Thor," Hiccup exclaimed, throwing his hands up, "Astrid, he won't be lonely. You just don't want to separate him from Stormfly for too long."

Astrid huffed and put her hands on her hips, The Look still plastered on her face. She, like most Vikings, had what Hiccup would call "stubbornness issues," but he'd never say it aloud lest he ever want to have children. "So what? It's basically the same with you and Toothless. 'Shadow' would've been a more appropriate name for him, considering he never leaves your side," she argued. Toothless gave an indignant snort.

Hiccup brought his hands up to his face and rubbed his eyes. He couldn't believe Astrid would bring Toothless into this, but he wasn't willing to risk Garff's life for the sake of his relationship with Astrid. "Astrid, you know perfectly well Toothless can't fly without me," he muttered, his patience beginning to wear thin.

"And who's fault is that!?" she snapped back.

The other Riders were watching the two bickering nervously, but at that comment Fishlegs gasped, Ruffnut gaped at Astrid incredulously, Snotlout nervously edged towards the arena opening, and Tuffnut continued stroking Chicken, seemingly oblivious to the tension in the room.

Hiccup had had enough. This was the second time that day Astrid had argued with him. He loved her, but even he had his limits, and she knew perfectly well how much guilt he felt for that incident, even after four years.

"FINE!" Hiccup shouted, slamming his fists on the barrel holding up the Dragon Eye 2 and causing Chicken to squawk in alarm, "Since you seem to think you know what's best for the team, Astrid, how about _you_ lead the mission and I'll just stay here with Fishlegs!" He glared at her for a moment more, noticing the brief flash of shock and hurt in her eyes, then turned and stormed out of the arena. Toothless unsheathed his teeth, narrowed his eyes, and growled menacingly at Astrid before getting up and bounding after his rider.

There was a shocked silence for a moment, until Fishlegs piped up, asking, "Should…someone go talk to him?"

Snotlout quickly whipped out his book and pencil and wrote furiously. "Chapter five, 'Hiccup Haddock, the man who loves dragons more than his own girlfriend.'" The Twins cackled at the comment.

Astrid snorted, trying hard to bury the hurt and guilt from the argument and not hearing Snotlout's jab. "He'll be fine. Knowing Hiccup, he'll feel guilty and come after us five minutes after we leave."

Tuffnut, who surprisingly caught on to the situation rather quickly, commented, "You know, A, he did kind of have a point. I mean, he _is_ our leader and questioning his authority would be detrimental to the…team…" He trailed off and held up a squawking Chicken to hide his face from the laser of Astrid's glare.

"Let's just go," Astrid grumbled, leading the Twins and Snotlout out of the arena, leaving Fishlegs and Meatlug to tend to the injured Singetail.

* * *

Hiccup stopped at the door to his hut and glanced down at the stables where the other riders were mounting up. "I don't know bud," he sighed, running a hand through his hair as Toothless looked up at him questioningly, "Was I too harsh?"

Toothless looked up at the Nadder taking to the skies and growled.

Hiccup shook his head and followed his dragon's gaze. Maybe it would be better for everyone if he and Astrid were separated for a while. He opened the door of his hut and moved over to his desk where his notes from the Dragon Eye were.

"I love her and all," he muttered to himself, "but I can't have team members constantly refusing to follow orders, even if they are my girlfriend." Toothless huffed in agreement.

Hiccup smiled and scratched the dragon in his favorite spot behind his earflap. Toothless closed his eyes and purred in delight. "Thanks, bud. At least someone around here understands."

The young Rider went back to his desk and attempted to lose himself in research, but his mind kept wandering to the brief look of shock and hurt in Astrid's eyes after his outburst.

"Oh, what am I doing?!" Hiccup groaned, grabbing his hair in frustration, "They're still my friends, and one additional un-trained dragon doesn't change that." He turned to Toothless and sighed.

"C'mon, bud. We're going after them."

* * *

As the Riders flew towards the island Hiccup had isolated as the most-likely to have a Singetail hunting ground, Astrid gazed at the horizon, lost in thought. She'd seen Hiccup angry before; at Snotlout, at the Twins, at himself, at Gustav, at his father, and especially at Viggo and Krogan, but never at _her_. Well, except for the time Heather first washed up on Berk and Hiccup refused to listen to a word she said, but even that wasn't as bad as the recent outburst. She knew he'd had a crush on her long before the fight with the Red Death, but she wasn't sure how he felt about her after that. Astrid had made an impulse decision to kiss him when he woke up, mostly from relief that he was alive, and after that Hiccup seemed to be content to be nothing more than friends. Sure, they were a little more protective of each other than the other riders, but Astrid had been okay with it if Hiccup wasn't ready to move forward.

She'd always found him kind of cute in a dorky, childish way, but then Hiccup had started growing up. Astrid often found herself admiring his defined jaw, his lean muscles making his sleeves bulge ever so slightly, his hard work in the forge, his ever-growing confidence, and his passion for dragons, but she had also noticed that he had a particular way of caring for her. How he held her hand, the gentleness in his kisses, the warmth in his embrace…

"Uh, Midgard to Astrid!" She was broken out of her thoughts by Ruffnut's drawling voice.

"W-what?" Astrid stammered as her mind slowly returned to reality.

Ruffnut smirked in her direction. "We've practically arrived. So, what's the plan?"

Astrid paused to look at the island below them. She could see the adult Death Song chained in the middle of a wide depression in the ground, surrounded by Dragon Hunters and Singetails trapped in amber.

Before she could open her mouth to speak, however, Garff stopped his exchange of squawks and screeches with Stormfly and dove towards his adult friend.

"Garff, no!" Astrid cried as she maneuvered Stormfly into his flight path. Garff stopped for a split second, then proceeded to swing around the pair and continue his dive.

As soon as the young dragon touched the ground, Hunters were throwing chains and buckles over him, effectively keeping him contained as the adult Death Song roared in anger.

"No! We have to rescue him! Hic-" Astrid stopped herself as she remembered that Hiccup had stayed at the Edge.

"Chapter six," Snotlout announced while writing in his book, "Hiccup Haddock says, 'I told you so!'"

Astrid had a hard time keeping tears of guilt out of her eyes. Snotlout was right; this was exactly why Hiccup had tried so hard to insist on leaving Garff behind, and it was her fault he was captured.

"Let's set down somewhere," Astrid said, swallowing the lump in her throat, "Try to find where they took Garff."

The other Riders nodded and followed the Nadder as she led them towards a patch of bushes big enough to hide both Riders and dragons.

* * *

Fishlegs was sure the gods were out to get him when the Singetail woke up right after he took the chains off and held them in his hands. "We were taking them off, not putting them on, okay?!" He stammered as he dropped the chains and held his hands up in surrender. Meatlug grunted at her Rider. "I know she can't understand me; I've never dealt with a dragon this stubborn and territorial up close, okay?!" The Singetail roared at him, and Fishlegs remembered the fruit that the Defenders of the Wing gave them. "Want a sagefruit?" he asked the irritated dragon, grabbing a fruit from a nearby crate and holding it out, "It should help calm you down." The Singetail sniffed the fruit before snatching it out of the boy's hand. Fishlegs sighed in relief, until the Singetail snorted and sprayed the fruit all over him.

"Well, I guess you're more of a meat eater then, huh?" Fishlegs muttered as the Singetail started attacking the dome of the arena. "Looks like you want out. I won't stand in your way then," he continued, walking over to the lever and opening the dome.

As soon as it was open enough, the Singetail shot out, screeching in triumph.

Meatlug nudged her Rider's arm as he stared at the freed Singetail, leaning so her saddle was facing him. "You think we should follow her?" Fishlegs asked. Meatlug snorted in agreement. "Good idea, girl. Just for a bit though, to make sure she's ok." He climbed onto the saddle and took off after the Singetail.

* * *

Astrid watched in horror as Hunters forced the Death Song to shoot Singetails out of the sky. "Using a dragon to trap another, that's so-"

"Brilliant," Tuffnut interrupted.

"Evil," Astrid corrected.

"You didn't let me finish," Tuffnut defended, "It's briliant-ly evil. But mostly evil. Obviously, like, seventy percent evil and then, you know, twenty-five percent brilliant. Or fift-" Astrid glared at him. "Ok, eighty, ten."

"You know," Ruffnut commented, "they say that truly evil people are also geniuses. Just look at Johan and Viggo."

"So, what does that make us?" Tuffnut pondered aloud.

Astrid shook her head and sighed in exasperation. She really wished Hiccup had come; he was usually better at keeping his cool around the Twins.

"Hey, look!" Ruffnut pointed at a Hunter trapped in amber, surrounded by other Hunters. "They're trying to pull him out by his head!"

Tuffnut grinned. "Which has the benefit of being both painful and ineffective," he stated.

Snotlout yawned as he leaned against Hookfang. "They could always use Monstrous Nightmare gel. But I doubt they have any, or even know how to use it properly."

Astrid looked over at the stocky teen, gears slowly turning in her head. "But we should have plenty, right?"

"Of course," Snotlout replied, "But why would we want to free the Hunters?"

"Not the Hunters, you muttonhead," Astrid grumbled, "The Singetails."

"Ah, yeah, that makes more sense," Snotlout said as he once again took out his book and pencil, "Chapter seven, Snotlout's Monstrous Nightmare gel saves the day once again." Hookfang growled and Snotlout put a monocle over his eye. "Okay, fine. Snot-Fang's gel-" Hookfang snarled. "Fine! Hookfang's- You know what? This is my book, not yours. And don't push me, or I'll redact your dragon butt." Hookfang flamed up, causing Snotlout's monocle to fall out. "Hey!"

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Okay, here's the plan…"

* * *

While he flew, Hiccup debated whether he should join the Riders immediately or wait until later. While he really wanted to apologize and make it up to Astrid, he was still sore about her poking at his guilt.

"Argh!" He groaned, "Why are women so confusing?" Toothless just warbled in reply.

They were nearing the island with the Cavern Crasher, and Hiccup decided he wasn't quite ready to face Astrid again just yet.

"C'mon bud," he muttered, steering Toothless towards the island, "Let's go see how the Fireworm Queen is doing."

* * *

Fishlegs and Meatlug were following the Singetail when he noticed they were heading towards the Hunter Singetail operation. He frowned. "That's odd," he muttered, why would she come back to where she was captured?"

The green dragon dove into a cave on the far side of the island with Fishlegs and Meatlug following, careful not to alert the Hunters of their presence.

"Oh Thor, oh Thor, oh Thor," Fishlegs whimpered as they made their way through the dark tunnel.

Soon, the tunnel opened up into a cave where the Singetail they were following curled up around an egg. "Oh wow," Fishlegs whispered, "This is why she wanted to get back here so badly; do you know what this means, Meatlug? They're breeding Singetails!"

* * *

Hiccup and Toothless hovered far above the Hunter camp, the former thinking hard.

"Well, I guess I could offer myself in exchange for their freedom," he mused.

Toothless grumbled in disagreement.

"I don't hear you suggesting anything!" Hiccup retorted.

He was about to steer his dragon into a dive when a familiar Gronkle buzzed towards him.

"Hiccup?!" Fishlegs exclaimed, "What are you-never mind. I need your help."

Hiccup nodded. "If you have a plan, I'm all ears."

"Alright," Fishlegs began, "Remember the island we fought the Cavern Crasher on?"

* * *

After the sun had set, plunging the island into darkness, Astrid and Snotlout began making trails of Nightmare gel around and over the cocoons of amber holding the Singetails.

"I don't like this," Snotlout complained, "I don't like this at all."

Astrid frowned. "It's pretty simple. We light the gel, the Singetails distract the Flyers, we destroy the ground defenses, and free Garff. Should be pretty easy."

Snotlout shook his head. "No, no, I meant that I'm the only one doing the dangerous sneaking around."

"Well, Snotlout," Astrid smirked, "We _are_ taking a chapter from your book, after all."

"I just hope it's not the final chapter," Snotlout whimpered.

Astrid waved at Stormfly, who was hiding behind a bush, to ignite the gel. With a short burst, the flames began making their way across the paths of gel circling and covering the amber cocoons. Several seconds later, the amber cases shattered like glass and woke up the Hunters in the area.

"That's not good," a Hunter muttered.

Meanwhile, the Twins start gassing and sparking the ground defenses while the Hunters are distracted. But then, a wild Singetail appeared out of nowhere and crashed into the Zibbleback, sending it tumbling to the ground.

Astrid went to free the Death Song from its chains, but to the Rider's surprise, the freed Singetails weren't leaving the island, and were getting in the way of the Rider's rescue attempts.

"They aren't leaving!" Astrid exclaimed in frustration, "Why aren't they leaving?!"

Snotlout was about to answer when a Singetail with a Flyer crashed into him, sending him toppling off of Hookfang onto the ground right in front of the Death Song.

"Ow ow ow! Oh, my Thor!" Snotlout yelped as he scrambled to his feet and started dodging Hunters with crossbows.

Astrid looked around frantically and spotted a cave near the east side of the pit. "Everyone, to that cave!"

"Terrible plan!" Snotlout complained, "We'll be trapped in there!"

"And we're dead if we stay out here!" Astrid yelled back. Snotlout couldn't argue with that logic.

Stormfly and Hookfang provided cover fire as the Riders helped Barf and Belch into the cave. The echoing voice of a Flyer from outside calling into the cave said, "You have no other way out. You can save your friends and your dragons a lot of hurt if you give up before Krogan gets here."

"Chapter Eight," Snotlout grumbled, "Astrid's Plans Stink!"

Astrid sighed heavily. "Well, looks like we'll be here for a while."

"If that's true," Ruffnut mused, "We need to redecorate."

"Oh, I hear you, sis," Tuffnut agreed, "Now, let's move out this clutter and go for more of a open-cave concept, you know? Let the feng shui flow."

"So, this is it?" Snotlout wondered, "After all we've been through, this is how the Snotlout goes out-lout?"

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Maybe Hiccup will come rescue us," she muttered halfheartedly.

"Well if he doesn't," Snotlout mused, "I'll redact him from the acknowledgements."

* * *

"What's this again?" Ruffnut asked her twin sometime later.

Tuffnut continued scratching in the floor. "A formal dining room."

"Oh," Ruffnut replied, disappointed, "I thought it was an informal commode."

Astrid was staring at the ground as she sat cross-legged next to her dragon. "This is all my fault," she muttered, "If I hadn't caused that argument with Hiccup…"

"Which I am detailing in chapter nine," Snotlout said while writing in his book, "Don't make Hiccup Haddock angry; you wouldn't like him when he's angry."

Tuffnut shrugged. "You never know, A," he stated, "Even with Hiccup here, we could've ended up in the same situation, just with different details."

Astrid stared at the male twin as if he'd grown a second head, but before she could ask what in Thor's name he was talking about, a familiar rumble sounded across the cave.

"Uh, does that sound bring back bad memories for anyone else?" Snotlout asked nervously.

Before anyone could answer, the far end of the cave started collapsing, causing Stormfly to squawk in alarm and Snotlout to hide under a table. A yellow and black Cavern Crasher walked through the hole, hissing. Fishlegs and Meatlug flew in after it.

"Hey guys!" Fishlegs said cheerfully, "Look who I found on the way here!"

An orange and blue Death Song hopped through the hole and made its way towards Stormfly, exchanging squawks and chortles with his friend.

"Garff!" Astrid exclaimed in relief.

"I'd say, 'I told you so,' but something tells me Snotlout covered that for me," a familiar, nasally voice said, preceding a grinning, auburn haired man with a metal leg.

"Hiccup!" Astrid gasped, running forward and hugging him tightly.

The Cavern Crasher tried to sneak up behind Fishlegs, who was holding a Singetail egg, but Hookfang blasted him away.

"Where'd the egg come from?" Astrid asked.

"There's a room full of them back there," Hiccup explained while jerking his head back to indicate the direction, "Turns out Krogan's been breeding them. That's why they wouldn't leave when you set them free."

"I cannot believe you brought that thing here," Snotlout complained, "Chapter Ten, 'Don't Bring an Egg-eating Dragon to an Island Full of Eggs.' I mean, what was your end game here?"

Hiccup turned towards him. "Well, you're the one who fought him last time. I thought you might have an idea."

Snotlout gaped at his cousin, then straightened with pride. "Sure, Hooky and I have this guy's number, so we'll handle him. You guys free those dragons. Chapter Eleven 'It's Up to the Snot, Again.' Come on, Slimeball. Let's dance."

Fishlegs handed the egg to Snotlout, who hopped into Hookfang's saddle and took off with the Cavern Crasher in hot pursuit.

Hiccup grinned and turned to the remaining Riders. "You heard the man. Let's go free some dragons."

* * *

After successfully freeing and reuniting the adult Death Song with Garff, and helping the Singetails take their eggs elsewhere, the Riders returned to the Edge.

Astrid closed the book. "I have to admit, Chapter Twelve, 'The Egg and I,' was pretty amazing."

"Ah! Oh, my Thor," Snotlout exclaimed, "Thank you Astrid."

"Quite the satisfying wrap-up," Ruffnut agreed.

"I never would've thought to do that thing that you did that got the Crasher to do the other thing," Tuffnut said in awe.

"Me neither," Ruffnut said, "All the things were great."

Hiccup cleared his throat. "Hey, uh, guys, I wanted to apologize for my behavior before the-"

"Nope," Astrid interrupted, "That wasn't your fault. I pushed you too hard and used our relationship to get what I wanted. So, if anyone needs to apologize, it's me."

Hiccup put an arm around her and kissed the top of her head. "You know that I could never hold a grudge against you." Astrid sighed contentedly and nodded. Toothless crooned happily and put his head in her lap.

"Also, Snotlout," Hiccup said sternly, "I strongly resent chapter five." Astrid snorted as she tried and failed to hold in a laugh.

"Hey cuz, I'm just stating facts," Snotlout said smugly. Toothless warbled his draconic laugh as Hiccup rolled his eyes and grinned.

Astrid snuggled into Hiccup's side before saying, "Snotlout, I think your book could be a big hit."

Ruffnut looked up in horror. "Bro, I just had a gross thought."

"Ooh, me too," Tuffnut agreed a little too enthusiastically, "Is it about why we smell so bad? Like, what's causing the smell, you know?"

Ruffnut shook her head. "No. What if Snotlout's book pushes our travel book off the bestselling list?"

"Ugh! That _is_ disgusting," Tuffnut replied, making a face.

"Oh, that's funny!" Snotlout huffed, crossing something off in his book, "Consider yourselves redacted from the acknowledgements."

Tuffnut gasped and started crying while Ruffnut cried out, "What is _wrong_ with you?! Why do you have to be so mean?!"

Hiccup started laughing, and it wasn't long before all the other Riders, minus the Twins were laughing as well.


End file.
